Hi All,
Our Lawyer explained the relation requirement to my wife and I when we were hoping to avoid the residency rule. He used two terms that were allowed with the 4th degree requirement i.e. "consanguinity" which is blood relation and "affinity" which is relation thru marriage. I was not able to locate any specific text in Philippine Law which depicts the counting method. It's important because there are different methods of counting depending on the application. This question will remain open to a degree, (no pun intended) until someone can post the actual text of Law or at least a link.
This is one chart that I found in my search that I think matches the application however I'm not 100% sure.
http://www.answers.com/topic/consanguinity if the relation is close then consult a Lawyer before coming to a conclusion.
What I can tell you for sure is that my wife's cousin's niece's child is considered at least the 5th degree and possible the 6th and my wife and I successfully completed the adoption.
Note however that it is not technically considered a relative adoption nor was it considered orphan adoption. Since the child was already identified, ICAB refused get involved without a court order. In fact we were turned away by ICAB on three separate occasions while seeking their assistance.
So if your are not related within the 4th degree then ICAB will not assit you. I strongly recommend that you contact DSWD "Childrens Wlefare" instead (I've posted links before) they will assist you and can help you get a Lawyer to handle your case. If you are resident outside the Philippines then you will need a social agency to assist you as well with the case study requirements.
Under the current rules if you are not a resident then you will not be able to adopt. If the child is not classified as an orphan or qualified by ICAB for InterCountry adoption then the child will not be able to immigrate upon completion of the adoption unless you have travel authorization from DSWD. If you want to immigrate to the US then you'll have to meet the two year co-residency requirements.
IMHO, I think ICAB is confused about it's identy as an agency. This is a bad thing for many a child's needs and It's a good thing for a many a child's protection.
The people in the Judical system and the policy makers need to realize that when rules are made they are for the people that follow the rules. People that don't follow the rules don't care because they are not bound by the rules.
I met one Lawyer Firm representative that claimed to complete an adoption/immigration to the US in 8 months time. I didn't believe him. In my exposure to the process I found that some on a fast track were able to complete adoptions within a year. But note that these adoptions were within the 4th degree and required corners to be cut. I have not met or corresponded with anyone that has completed a non-relative non-orphan adoption process in less than 2 years and the average is more like 3 to 3.5 years.
It took my brother-in-law and his wife 2.5 years to complete an identified child adoption using the I-600 processs however in this case ICAB was involved.
HTH,
Johnny